Training and education as a means of increasing equity in child health teaching of undergraduates.

Several primary sources of influence shape pediatric curricula in the United Kingdom and the United States. The national guidance given by the General Medical Council(1) in the United Kingdom and by the Future of Pediatric Education(2) document in the United States focus on developing a group of physicians who respond to the relevant needs of contemporary children. The competition among interest groups for time in curricula, including our interests in advancing community pediatrics, determines what is taught and the extent to which it is taught. Strategies to engage and motivate students so that they learn what we want them to learn ultimately will define our success in medical education and as medical educators. In approaching the above noted challenges, I have made 3 assumptions about learners. First, most students come from middle-class backgrounds and have little exposure to what life is really like for our patients and their families. Second, there is good evidence now that students' learning styles are set from the time they enter medical school.(3) Contemporary students are very assessment driven, and our residents are adopting these same sorts of attitudes. It is a protective mechanism for survival in a very crammed curriculum. The third assumption is that students have a wealth of experiences and creative energy, and there is much that we can do to harness them.